LONDON: Serena Williams will enter Wimbledon with a dismal world ranking of 1,204 and with no competitive singles match in the previous 12 months, aiming for what would be her greatest victory.
At Wimbledon, where eight-time champion Roger Federer, the top two men’s players in the world, and significant ranking points will all be absent, the seven-time All England Club champion will also be vying for a record-tying 24th Grand Slam championship.
The outstanding American’s chances of becoming the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon are incredibly slim.
Serena hasn’t participated in a singles match on the tour since staggering out of Wimbledon in tears after losing to Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the first round in 2021, only three months before her 41st birthday.
Since winning a seventh Australian Open in 2017 while pregnant, the American great has remained painfully stranded on 23 Slams.
In 2018 and 2019, she finished second in Wimbledon and the US Open, falling short of Margaret Court’s record of 24 major titles.
“I never retired. Just my physical and mental healing was required. None at all. I simply had no idea when I would return. The 40-year-old added on Saturday, “I didn’t know how I would return.
